In the 1980s Kings Island was home to several record breaking coasters: King Cobra, Beast, Racer, and the Screamin’ Demon. The Screamin’ Demon, also referred to as the Demon, was one of the first shuttle loop coasters ever built. The ride was installed in 1977 as part of a $5 million dollar upgrade to the…
Over the course of the last few weeks, we have featured several roller coasters in our “Lost Concepts” series. In doing research for the series, we came across an alternate design of Kings Island’s Beast that was present through the very early stages of the ride’s planning and construction. The Beast was designed in-house by…
Over the the last few weeks, we have highlighted several proposed coasters that were never built in our “Lost Concepts” series. This week’s featured coaster was proposed and never built, but the concept was revived as a much larger coaster. In 1979, Kings Island opened the Beast, a record breaking wooden coaster. The ride opened…
When a park chooses a roller coaster to build, they often listen to multiple competing bids. Usually information about the bids never becomes public information, however a recently discovered article from 1987 provides insight into the decision making process. After the Bat was demolished, Kings Island was looking for a new signature coaster. When it…
Coaster enthusiasts will have some new models to collect as new Coaster Dynamix models were just revealed featuring coasters of Kings Island! Coaster Dynamix has created NanoCoaster models for the all new ORION giga coaster as well as retired legends such as Vortex, and the highly anticipated Son of Beast! Coaster Dynamix makes miniature replicas…
This morning, media and industry leaders gathered around the Bolliger and Mabillard booth at the IAAPA Expo in Orlando as the inventors and designers of Kings Island’s ground-breaking roller coaster Orion, displayed the ride’s first vehicle. Representatives from Switzerland-based B&M were on site talking about the new ride. The Orion vehicle is part of an innovative…
This weekend, Kings Island’s Vortex will celebrate its final rider milestone. Sometime during the amusement park’s Halloween Haunt and Great Pumpkin Fest the steel coaster’s 46 millionth ride will be given. Ridership increased when Kings Island announced in September that Vortex, currently in its 33rd season, would permanently close on October 27. Most coasters of this…
Kings Island confirmed this morning that Vortex, the park’s six inversion roller coaster would be removed. The announcement was made over a blog post. Final rides on Vortex will begin tonight when Halloween Haunt opens at 6 p.m. The ride’s final day of operation will be October 27th. Both 2019 and 2020 Gold and…
Get ready, dark forces will be unleashed and wildest nightmares will come true beginning this Friday night, when Kings Island’s Halloween Haunt returns for its 13th season. Voted “Best Theme Park Halloween Event” in the country in 2018 by USA Today readers, the annual event runs Friday and Saturday nights from September 20 through…
Thrill-seekers will experience a new level of excitement when they visit Kings Island in 2020. Joining the world-class line-up of coasters at the park is Orion, one of only seven giga coasters in the world, a class of coasters having a height or drop of 300-399 ft. Orion will plunge riders down an exhilarating 300-foot…
It’s that time of the year when amusement parks around the world start to announce and tease their plans for next big attraction. Some parks choose to announce projects via simple press releases to the media, while others like to host announcement events. But, before those events take place, there’s usually lots of speculation from…
Cedar Fair has officially implemented a new (long time rumored) rewards program into many of their amusement parks. Now, guests can get rewards simply by having fun! For the 2019 season, Cedar Fair is has debuted a new pass member loyalty system called Pass Perks—a new rewards program exclusively for Gold and Platinum Passholders. Each…